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Topic Review (Newest First)

01-05-2013 07:33 AM

FisheriesOmen

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnotherHobby

Wow, I just talked to your boss about a month ago on the phone. I live in Apple Valley and I was asking about the new location. He seemed a little frustrated and stressed out, and now I know why. My condolences to you.

If you want some free plant trimmings let me know. When I trim stuff I just throw it out. If you scroll through my journal you'll see what plants I have: 12 Gallon Reboot — Learning Experience

I don't trim all my plants, but I do trim my rotola, cabomba, hydrocotyle tripartita japan, and have a ton of java moss in another tank. None of them require much light or CO2 either.

Ya, he was very stressed for about 5 months during the move. But a few weeks before he passed away he was very kind and clam. Wish I would've been able to get to know him more.

I'll have to keep those trimmings in mind as my plant selection is pretty 1 dimensional.

01-05-2013 04:26 AM

AnotherHobby

Wow, I just talked to your boss about a month ago on the phone. I live in Apple Valley and I was asking about the new location. He seemed a little frustrated and stressed out, and now I know why. My condolences to you.

If you want some free plant trimmings let me know. When I trim stuff I just throw it out. If you scroll through my journal you'll see what plants I have: 12 Gallon Reboot — Learning Experience

I don't trim all my plants, but I do trim my rotola, cabomba, hydrocotyle tripartita japan, and have a ton of java moss in another tank. None of them require much light or CO2 either.

01-05-2013 02:21 AM

FisheriesOmen

Quote:

Originally Posted by AzFishKid

While i do agree that it is extremely important to be cautious in situations like the one you were in, i do have to commend you for offering to work in his store for free. It's a shame to hear that he passed away and i'm sorry for your loss.

Personally, I have learned so much by working in a LFS (i'm 18 and i started working at your age), especially in regards to customer service and how retail environments work. So even if you aren't working for an actual paycheck, i'm sure you gained a lot. Hopefully you will be able to find a new store to work at in the event that Something Fishy closes its doors.

This looks like a cool project, and i wish you the best of luck!

Thanks, It was very sad news for our club and he will be dearly missed.

01-05-2013 02:13 AM

Centromochlus

While i do agree that it is extremely important to be cautious in situations like the one you were in, i do have to commend you for offering to work in his store for free. It's a shame to hear that he passed away and i'm sorry for your loss.

Personally, I have learned so much by working in a LFS (i'm 18 and i started working at your age), especially in regards to customer service and how retail environments work. So even if you aren't working for an actual paycheck, i'm sure you gained a lot. Hopefully you will be able to find a new store to work at in the event that Something Fishy closes its doors.

This looks like a cool project, and i wish you the best of luck!

01-04-2013 11:08 PM

FisheriesOmen

I am sad to announce that a little past New Years my boss Mike has passed away. I am not sure what the family will do with the store so this is now no longer an LFS-only tank as I do not know what will become of Something Fishy.

On a happier note I have just filled the tank with water today and transferred trimmings from the 5g (which I tore down) and my 5.5g. The tank is all set-up and looks great! I am so glad I got that substrate and I'd take it over the Potting Soil any day as it is easier to plant and every time you disturb the substrate soil doesn't explode into the water column!

I didn't realize how blurry this picture was, I'll get a better pic up later.

12-06-2012 05:07 PM

FisheriesOmen

Quote:

Originally Posted by bassmjm

The best advice I have is to take your time, plan things out, and don't make any rushed decisions.

Do you have plans for CO2?

No plans for CO2 as it is more money I don't have. I am not really planning out the plants I want quite yet, but I have the general timeline of how I'm going to do things.

12-06-2012 04:38 PM

bassmjm

The best advice I have is to take your time, plan things out, and don't make any rushed decisions.

Do you have plans for CO2?

12-06-2012 04:25 PM

Basilisk

Quote:

Originally Posted by FisheriesOmen

...I have always wanted to work at a LFS and enjoy the feeling like I'm doing something that mimics something I'd do as a living, rather than just filling out senseless "busy work" on a sheet of paper for a grade which, in reality, means nothing...

Best thing I've read today.

12-05-2012 11:34 PM

FisheriesOmen

Quote:

Originally Posted by Newman

just be careful of some unofficial stuff especially if you do not know the guy at all. Some people out there will trick you in order to get you money or labor. They like to think of elaborate stories to draw onto a person's morality and elicit help from them.
I hope you are not in such a situation. Make sure he does start paying you at some point in the future (when his situation straightens out.)

I am being cautious and once I feel like his business is finally finished and up and running I am going to work for cash. He has said he really wants to hire me but doesn't have the time to train me or the money to hire me. His other employees refuse to work for free while he tries to open up (which is understandable since they need money).

Honestly at this point, getting money is just a bonus as I have always wanted to work at a LFS and enjoy the feeling like I'm doing something that mimics something I'd do as a living, rather than just filling out senseless "busy work" on a sheet of paper for a grade which, in reality, means nothing (I comfortably get B+ to A w/o much effort currently and I have 2 AP courses and a grade higher for math).

Quote:

I have to say that i am no fan of flourite in general. i know it has plenty of iron and other nice things, but it can't even be compared to organic soil. the only upside is that its lasts basically forever while the benefits of organic soil go away after a few years.
Its fine to leave puddles i think. like you said it will evaporate.
just try to make a plastic wrap cover out of a couple of sheets taped together. i see you tried.
Mist the plants every day. maybe that will help?

About the flora - pick you favorites, make sketches of what it will look like, what you want it to look like and plant accordingly.

So far I love this soil as it is less of a hassle. Also the fact that I would pretty much never have to change the substrate unlike potting soil which is a big plus for me.

Plants for now are just things I already have (which isn't much) and eventually I'll add more.

I figured out a way to mist it well so that shouldn't be an issue now.

12-05-2012 11:20 PM

Newman

just be careful of some unofficial stuff especially if you do not know the guy at all. Some people out there will trick you in order to get you money or labor. They like to think of elaborate stories to draw onto a person's morality and elicit help from them.
I hope you are not in such a situation. Make sure he does start paying you at some point in the future (when his situation straightens out.)

I have to say that i am no fan of flourite in general. i know it has plenty of iron and other nice things, but it can't even be compared to organic soil. the only upside is that its lasts basically forever while the benefits of organic soil go away after a few years.
Its fine to leave puddles i think. like you said it will evaporate.
just try to make a plastic wrap cover out of a couple of sheets taped together. i see you tried.
Mist the plants every day. maybe that will help?

About the flora - pick you favorites, make sketches of what it will look like, what you want it to look like and plant accordingly.

PS: i forgot to mention - I have flourite in my 40 gallon community. have been using it for 3 years now i think. if you check my thread on the 40gal you can see that it can support plants. (all those planted pics are with flourite). I just do now like its performance compared with stuff like organic soil and aquasoil.

12-05-2012 10:31 PM

FisheriesOmen

Got this thing going!

Just started with some plants in the 5g that I'll be tearing down when this is set up.

Also I didn't plant much as I'm still saving for that DW and don't wanna deal with the hassle of moving everything around once it is established.

Hydrocotyle sp.

Pogostemon erectus (I know there is a small bit of water, but it will evaporate quicky and if it doesn't I will siphon it out)

I was fortunate to find an old grow bulb I had laying around and will work as a temporary light fixture.

I must say that after using this Black Flourite, I don't think I can go back to the PITA Organic Potting Soil.

Does anyone have suggestions for covering it and misting it? The tank is barely too wide for 1 sheet of SARAN wrap and is extremely hard to mist the tank.

12-05-2012 03:42 AM

JoeGREEEN

I have used flourite black successfuly in a 10G NPT before good stuff btw.

Since its a 10G you could get a "economy" dual incandecent hood and use those 6500k coralife cfl bulbs and you should have low-medium light.

The lfs owner can order these if he doesnt have it in stock.

12-05-2012 03:25 AM

FisheriesOmen

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoeGREEEN

oh yes i had to squint but yes it is a price sticker for $34.99

In my youth ( I'm not as old as I used to be haha) I worked for a couple of pet shops for minimum wage and fish was always my specialty. Ya its fun and hard work, and having dibs on a healthy batch of new fish arrivals is a great perk too .

Just make sure the owner takes acurate log of the hours you work so you get just conpensation and shop around to make shure that discount & credits equal a great value.

Well currently I'm just going to "Volunteer" as he is in really bad shape (missed out on his taxes during move and is paying $500 fine a month) and I really don't want to see him go out of business. Which is why I actually want to set up this tank. Once I get it set up I can give him plant trimmings for his tanks and hopefully ease the burden he has right now (same thing w/coral frags).

12-05-2012 03:00 AM

JoeGREEEN

oh yes i had to squint but yes it is a price sticker for $34.99

In my youth ( I'm not as old as I used to be haha) I worked for a couple of pet shops for minimum wage and fish was always my specialty. Ya its fun and hard work, and having dibs on a healthy batch of new fish arrivals is a great perk too .

Just make sure the owner takes acurate log of the hours you work so you get just conpensation and shop around to make shure that discount & credits equal a great value.

12-05-2012 02:49 AM

FisheriesOmen

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoeGREEEN

Hey sorry I'm a bit confused?

you said" While I was there I decided to get my very first "plant substrate" and so this build began. He even gave me an employee discount so I only had to pay $26 I hope I picked a good substrate as it was this and one other one so I decided on this" and then you show a pic of a bag of flourite black that has a price sticker of $24.99 ?

did you pay less than $26 for a $24.99 bag of flourite and had a typo?

It says 34.99, my apologies, my phone normally doesn't take such grainy pictures but the dimmer lighting screwed it up.

So I did still save about $9, which considering this guy is in the hole right now, was extremely nice of him (even though he has had me waiting 5 months to get the job. . .).

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